


matters of the heart

by apotheosizing



Category: Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Genre: Aromantic Breq, Background Relationships, Canon-Typical Tea, Gen, POV First Person, Relationship Advice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:01:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25937077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apotheosizing/pseuds/apotheosizing
Summary: Breq gives Kalr Eight a helping hand and her last box of Daughter of Fishes.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16
Collections: Aromantic Characters Exchange





	matters of the heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gammarad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gammarad/gifts).



> Aro!Breq is my fave! I tried to keep to Breq's unique narratorial voice in this fic, which was a fun challenge. I hope you enjoy the result.

“Fleet Captain?” Kalr Eight hovered uncomfortably at the door to my office, every line of her face announcing her conflict at bothering her commanding officer.

“I am no longer a fleet captain, Eight. Breq is fine,” I corrected, not unkindly. Much of the current structure of the fledgling Republic of Two Systems hung on the tatters of Radchaai tradition. “Come in.” The last several days had consisted of meeting after meeting after sleepless night in service of gathering the body of evidence I needed to make my arguments for significance before the Presger. It would be a welcome relief to take my mind off that larger, tangled problem for a few minutes.

Eight stepped inside, looking no less guilty as she settled into the chair opposite me. “This is silly but -”

I gestured for silence. “It will benefit neither of us for you to couch everything you say in self-doubt. Speak freely.” I put a faint but noticeable stress on ‘benefit’. Eight, internalizing the word, nodded.

“I need your help with a… romantic matter.” She searched my face uncertainly, as though she feared judgement. I realized that she was worried on account of Radchaai attitudes toward relationships between officers from houses of differing prominence, though I was not Radchaai. I kept my expression impassive. “Involving Kalr Ten.”

I had wondered whether I'd read their reactions to the other correctly. Much of their dancing around each other had occurred during the time I'd sworn off using _Mercy of Kalr_ 's eyes to watch the crew. Even so, I had spent hundreds of years watching people fall in - and out - of love. I could draw my own conclusions.

With a twitch of my fingers, I asked _Mercy of Kalr_ to inform Kalr Five that I would need a tea set. I gestured for Kalr Eight to continue.

"I want to give her a gift. Nothing ostentatious! I don't want her to feel pressured to respond favourably. Something... simple but meaningful," Eight managed.

I considered the matter. Kalr Ten enjoyed tea of a certain quality, fashion of the sort that the heroines of popular entertainments would wear, and had grown to have a fondness for music. Eight was no musician and shopping on Omaugh Station was out of the question. There was only one remaining box of Daughter of Fishes aboard _Mercy of Kalr_ , a fact Kalr Eight knew well. Her refusal to mention it was a matter of propriety. Silently, I asked _Mercy of Kalr_ to request it from Five, as well.

"You might tell her how you feel," I suggested, causing Eight to stare at me as though I'd suggested she do something unthinkable. "I'm not saying that it will be easy, but it will avoid confusion about your intentions." I'd seen more than a few prospective courtships fall apart due to mismatched understandings of the nature of the growing relationship. Several captains had attempted to court Lieutenant Awn through gifts, though she had not recognized all of them as such.

Kalr Five entered as Eight gathered her thoughts. She had brought a tea set of light blue, one that was politely appropriate to the occasion, which she placed on the desk between myself and Kalr Eight. With only a twinge of pain on her otherwise ancillary-blank face, she placed the box Daughter of Fishes next to it. Eight's eyes widened in protest but rejecting both or either would be entirely improper. I waited.

Eventually, she resolved her internal debate. Eight lifted the tea - and after a moment of hesitation, the set - from the desk with careful hands. She muttered her thanks, disbelief almost imperceptibly blunting her manners, and took her leave.

Five, who shook her head as soon as Kalr Eight was out of sight, took the opportunity to inform me that I was needed on the Amaat deck before likewise turning on her heel to resume her duties. I rose from the desk and followed her out of the office, but not before offering a word of luck for Eight to the statue I kept in the alcove by the door.


End file.
